A man who broke his victim's skull three years ago by delivering a running kick to his forehead has received a suspended sentence.

Adams, of Bernard Curtis House, Bluebell, Dublin, attacked the man as he was tackling a thief who was trying to steal the victim's headphones.

Adams told gardai that the man who had stolen the victim's headphones was a friend of his. He said he saw his friend struggling with the victim and decided to intervene. Adams later told gardai he was "remorseful" and never meant to harm the victim.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring suspended a sentence of three-and-a-half years on condition that he keep the peace and engage with the Probation Service's education and training programmes.

"If you lift your foot or your fist to anyone you'll do three-and-a-half-years and any sentence on top of that," Judge Ring said.

The court heard that Mr Ryabkov had been about to enter a takeaway on Emmet Road when a man grabbed his headphones and ran off.

Pursued

Garda Mark Dennehy told Colm O'Briain, prosecuting, that the victim pursued the thief and managed to grab hold of him, shouting out for someone to call the police.

Mr Ryabkov felt an impact on the side of his face and realised that a second man had hit him. The victim fell on the ground and there was blood coming from his head.

The man who had stolen the headphones said, "It wasn't me that did that to you," as a crowd began to gather. There were shouts of "kill him, kill him" from the crowd.

Assault

As the victim lay on the ground, Adams ran about 30 yards and kicked him in the forehead and head in what gardai described as an "unprovoked assault". The victim suffered a "severe skull fracture" which posed a risk to his vision.

Adams has 52 previous convictions, including one for assault, three for theft offences, 16 for public order and 16 for road traffic offences.

Adams told Bernard Condon, defending, that he would like to apologise to his victim and accepts that he is 100pc to blame. He said he would like to continue with his drug treatment programme as he only really gets into trouble when he is intoxicated.

Adams told the court: "This is not what I want in life. I am really truly sorry and I sincerely apologise."